Hayden Travinski previews his final season with LSU Baseball

Hayden Travinski's LSU career has been a bit rocky at times, but now, he's entering his fifth season with the program and is in a better place than he's been in his entire career.

Travinski came to LSU in the Tigers 2019 recruiting class, but over the course of his first three seasons, injuries plagued his career. As a freshman, Travinski played in nine games and took 17 at bats, getting on base just one time (0.59 average) and striking out seven times.

In his sophomore season, Travinski played in just 29 games, batting .271 with four home runs in 48 at bats. He'd follow that up with a 33 game season in 2021 where he'd hit .246, but injuries once again cut his season short.

Finally, after years of nagging injuries that kept him off the field so often, Travinski had a healthy offseason heading into 2023. Travinski reaped the benefits of a healthy offseason, setting career-highs in games played (41), batting average (.356), at bats (104), home runs (10), RBI's (30) and OBP (.465).

He quickly became one of the best hitters in all of college baseball, and he credits that to having an entire offseason with no injuries:

"At one point I think it'd had been nearly two years without consistent play just due to injuries and unfortunate circumstances. Last fall was the first fall I didn't miss a single practice other than due to illness. That's the first time in my career that's happened, so just being able to be out there, have fun everyday and continue to learn the game and have experiences with the team."

Hayden Travinski

After his stellar fourth season, Travinski had a big decision to make. He could forgo his final season of eligibility and enter his name in the 2023 MLB Draft, or he could return to Baton Rouge for one more season in the purple and gold.

LSU head coach Jay Johnson said they had several guys in the same situation, but he felt they needed to get Travinski to come back for one more year. He has so much left on the table because he missed so much time, and he told Travinski that if he came back, this would be his year.

"He's a stud...We had several guys who could've returned or gone on to pro baseball. There were a few guys who went on who needed to go on to pro baseball, that was what was best for them, and I didn't really try to convince them to comeback. I had a lot of conversations with [Hayden Travinski] for a couple of reasons. Number one, he was hurt a lot and I just felt like there was more on the table for him to do here. I told him 'if you come back, this is your time,' and it's clearly his time. He's one of the best hitters in the country in my opinion."

Jay Johnson

Travinski was thankful to be asked back by Coach Johnson, because he felt coming back for another season gave him to opportunity to get more reps and grow as a player. He also said that he loves the LSU Baseball program, wanted to wear the purple and gold one more time and play another season with his teammates before heading to the pros.

"I think, over the course of the years I've just come to love the program. I was just thankful to be asked back, I thought it was just a better opportunity for me to continue getting reps, to play with Alex [Milazzo] again one last year and to wear the purple and gold again. Like I said, I'm just grateful to be asked back."

Hayden Travinski

As a fifth year senior, Travinski knows one of his many roles is going to be as a mentor for the young players on this team. The Tigers have loads of talented freshman and sophomores, and he fees it's his job to help them adjust to the college game and teach them how they do things in Baton Rouge.

Travinski also joked about the age gap, saying that some of them were born in 2005, so it's like a whole new generation of kids in the locker room.

"I've said it before, but it's just me getting used to the younger kids. Some of them are born in 2005, so that's a little bit outside of my realm, but it's been fun. I think our job is to mentor them, help them adjust, help them learn the way that we do things...I could go into depth, but it's just a different generation I feel like. We were COVID in college and they were COVID in high school, so I can't imagine dealing with that."

Hayden Travinski

As he gears up for his final season in Baton Rouge, Travinski is ready to make another big jump in performance. He'll likely play DH or catcher in every game this season, as long as he stays healthy, and will almost certainly be one of the best hitters in the nation.

This is a big year for the longtime Tiger, and he's going to make sure to soak it all in during his farewell tour.

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